Additional Information for all CHS MPH degrees

Our MPH program is designed to prepare students to be front line practitioners in public health.  The program includes courses to give students skills to be effective in a real-world public health setting.

I. Practicum

All students must complete a 300-hour Practicum before graduation, following the requirements of and using the forms in the school’s Practicum Handbook (available on the school’s website under Academics – Handbooks).  The Practicum is an experience working in a public health organization on practical public health issues; this requirement is not fulfilled by participating in research projects or simply providing clerical support to an organizational unit.  Examples of appropriate practica include working in a state health department or a nonprofit organization like the Louisiana Public Health Institute on a health promotion program.  Each practicum must be guided by both a preceptor who works at the organization in which the practicum takes place and the student’s advisor.  Students must develop learning objectives for the practicum that are approved by both the preceptor and advisor before beginning the practicum. 

Upon completion of the practicum, students must complete the following to summarize the experience and lessons learned:

• A summary report of 5-10 pages, double-spaced, following the outline in the Practicum Handbook
• A 250-word abstract
• A poster to be presented in the department at the end of the last semester before graduation (See our Poster Guidelines).

II. Culminating Experience

All students must also complete a Culminating Experience that reflects the breadth of public health learning. There are two options for the Culminating Experience: passing a Comprehensive Exam or completing a Public Health Analysis.*   Students must declare which option they will choose and tell their advisors by the end of the semester before their final semester, for example, by December for graduation in May.**

Both options for the Culminating Experience will be graded as either pass or fail. Students who fail the comprehensive examination may take the exam again one or more times. Students who fail the public health analysis have one opportunity to rewrite it to achieve a passing grade.

* As of Spring 2009 there is no comprehensive exam developed for students in the Global Maternal and Child Health dual-major program, so students in this program must complete a Public Health Analysis. 

** There is an exception to this deadline in the Spring of 2009; students graduating this semester must tell their advisor and Zarie Hodges which option they will complete by February 16, 2009.

 Requirements for the two options for the culminating experience are as follows:

A.     Comprehensive Exam

The comprehensive exam will have two parts, Part A covering the school’s six core courses and Part B covering the departments core courses (CHSC 610, 611, 612, and 613).  Part B will include approximately 60 multiple-choice and short-answer questions on core material covered in these classes; students who took only three of these four classes are required only to answer questions from the classes they completed.  A brief outline of the content of Part B will be distributed by the department.  The Part A exam will be offered in the middle of each semester and Part B approximately two weeks later (in Spring 2009 it will be offered on March 20). 

B.     Public Health Analysis

The Public Health Analysis is a written report that considers a topic of relevance to public health practice, using the following guidelines. 

1.      Content

The report must address a specific issue that is important to public health practice.  This issue may or may not relate to the practicum.  Examples of topics that would be appropriate are:

• Promotion of breastfeeding among teen mother
• Use of counter-advertising to reduce binge drinking
• The WIC food package and its effect on diet
• Use of community outreach workers for assistance in managing diabetes
• School PE programs as a means to promote physical activity in children

Reports must be newly-written documents and may not represent a re-use (in whole or in part) of papers completed for classes.  Reused papers will be considered plagiarized.

The report must include a thorough review of the scientific literature on this topic.  This literature review must be based only on primary sources from peer-reviewed journals and government sources (no journals that are not peer-reviewed, no advocacy organization reports).

The report must include a discussion of implications of the literature review, with recommendations for public health policy or practice. 

2. Format

The report must be 10-15 pages, double-spaced, not including the abstract or references.  It must use the outline approved by the SPHTM.  References must be in either APA format or the format used by the American Journal of Public Health.
Outline – Thesis or Public Health Analysis – Professional Degree Programs

3. Submission

Public health analysis reports must be submitted by students to their advisors by two months before the last day of classes (by March 20 for Spring 2009).  Papers must be submitted through SafeAssign to be checked for plagiarism.

4. Evaluation

Advisors will grade Public Health Analysis reports based on the following criteria:

• Whether the topic is well-defined and relevant to public health policy/practice
• The thoroughness of the literature review
• The clarity of the reasoning
• The degree to which students followed instructions regarding outline and format

 Culminating Experience Certification Form

Updated 9/2009